“That’s just crazy..!”

       The Making Of Hose.

THE EDITING AND VFX SET-UP

Since we were familiar with Apple’s Final Cut Pro it seemed the logical system to choose. From its inception until now it had grow tremendously in terms of power and stability.  I’d literally grown up on FCP and am totally comfortable using It. It is totally HD capable plus it has a great suite of applications that go with it, like DVD Studio Pro, Cinema Tools and Compressor. Apple works closely with AJA as well, which made the choice of video card easier.

Adobe’s After Effects was chosen for the Visual Effects work (VFX) primarily as it offers the most performance at the best price point. As with FCP, I had learnt AE back at version 4 (at the time this project started we were at version 6.5 and soon went to 7.) AE’s ability to do 16 bit color work, its integration with Adobe’s Photoshop and compatibility with all the HD codecs were all plusses. I really love AE and think its one of the most underrated post applications. It can do a heck of a lot more than just fancy typographics.

To run all this we chose the top-of-the line Apple G5 2.7Ghz dual processor, with 8 GB of RAM and an Ati XT800 graphics card. Mike Curtis at Hdforindies.com helped me with the set-up. He was an invaluable resource and I strongly recommend you contact him and pay him to consult on your project before you get going. A small financial pain upfront will save a large financial drain later on…

I had a Sony 19” professional video monitor so we used that to monitor the NTSC signal in CCIR 601 color space and a Apple 23” Cinema Display to monitor the RGB HD image (it is not suitable for color correction but provides a pixel for pixel 1920x1080 image). We used a BlackMagic Decklink box running from the AJA box to connect the Cinema Display. This was most useful for doing the VFX work in After Effects, especially cutting out masks and painting out wires etc. The NTSC monitor showed us when we’d have problems with the Hose getting too small and falling between the scan lines.

A pen tablet is also highly recommended for all the VFX work. Make sure the tablet comes with a 3 button mouse – Final Cut Studio’s Color works better with the mouse than the pen.

To capture the stills we used an Apple 15” Powerbook. This laptop took a pretty severe beating and managed to withstand the heat as well. Working outside with the LCD screen was quite challenging – ideally you need some kind of visor. We rigged some cardboard that worked fine if it wasn’t too windy.